Slab City is an experimental web experience created over the course of one semester as the final project to an interactive design course at TAU. Its goal is to tell the unique story of an off the grid nomad community and its residents while using UX methodologies and Design Thinking principles.
SLAB CITY
THE PROBLEM
THE SOLUTION
A captivating web experience where people around the world can digitally explore Slab City and get to know its fascinating history through personal stories that create awareness to the threat of evacuation, spark an interest in its narrative and change its overall image.
RESEARCH PHASE
In this phase each team tried to gain the most knowledge about their chosen subject. We read and watched all sorts of available archive materials in order to help us define the problem and start to think about who our potential users are.
WHO BETTER THAN SLAB CITY RESIDENTS?
To help define Slab City’s problem, We needed to hear about the residents’ needs and problems first-hand. But getting ahold of any of them was challenging , since their lifestyle is very “off the grid”. But we didn’t give up! We tried to contact multiple residnets, ultimately succeeding to get in contact with two through their social media account and conduct much needed interviews via Zoom:
KEY INSIGHTS
USER RESEARCH
In this phase we were asked to interview potential users in order to identify points of interest regarding Slab City, as well as patterns in demographics that would help with the creation of our personas. As part of the process, we showed the users findings from the previous phase, such as documents, pictures and videos, in order to see what sparks interest.
When asked about what interested them the most about the Slabs, these were the most common responses:
DEMOGRAPHIC SURVEY
KEY INSIGHTS
USER PERSONAS
Analyzing the information from the previous phase, we noticed Our users were splitting into two main patterns. We first identified the patterns, and later used them in order to come up with two personas that would help us understand the user better.
IN ORDER TO TELL THE STORY, WE DECIDED TO FOCUS ON THREE CHARACTERS:
Each character chosen is also the founder of a major Slab City Landmark. This choice allows us to tell the personal stories of the residents while simultaneously exposing users to Slab City’s main tourist attractions and walking them through the place’s history.
After brainstorming ideas, we created a User Flow and some low fidelity wireframes in order to priorotize user experience before coming up with our final product design
LOW FIDELITY WIREFRAMES
HIGH FIDELITY WIREFRAMES
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
In this step we began thinking about the Look and Feel of our experience. There were a few goals we knew were important to keep in mind from the very start of the visual design process :
COLORS
We used Salvation mountain as our main inspiration for the final color pallette. We thought it represented Slab City’s Colorful & Eclectic Personality very well.
TYPOGRAPHY
We tried to express Diversity by using multiple unique typefaces in our final design’s Typography:
FINAL DESIGN
HOME PAGE FLOW
EXPERIENCE FLOW
USABILITY TESTING
After the prototype was ready, we set out to test it on 5 users. We gave them different tasks to complete and measured Completion Times, while encouraging them to Think Aloud and observing any noteworthy behavior. We summerized the main issues that came up in this table:
USER QUOTES
KEY INSIGHTS
WHAT’S NEXT?
My vision for Slab City Interactive stories would be to to gradually expand the website over time. During the testing phase, I noticed a great interest in what it has to offer, especially an interest in the personal stories of the residents. In the future, I would like to add even more experiences, one for every character on the Choose Your Guide page, and tell every resident’s special story, thus keeping the site fresh every time. Here are some ideas I had for future features:
